Manchester United are set to take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this evening with a place in this season’s FA Cup quarter-finals on the line.
Both sides are looking to join Watford, Brighton & Hove Albion, Millwall, Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Crystal Palace and Swansea City in the next round.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is looking to bounce back from our 0-2 loss at home to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League midweek, whilst Chelsea were over in Sweden facing Malmo in the Europa League 48 hours later.
The caretaker manager has already confirmed that we will be without Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Antonio Valencia through injury, whilst Phil Jones has been left at home.
Here is the team I think we’ll see starting at Stamford Bridge:
Goalkeeper: Sergio Romero
David de Gea has travelled but I think Ole will stick with Sergio Romero as his cup goalkeeper. The Argentine faced both Reading and Arsenal in the previous rounds.
Defence: Diogo Dalot, Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw
I can see Ashley Young getting a rest ahead of Liverpool at the weekend with Diogo Dalot starting at right-back. Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof are forming their centre-back partnership under the caretaker boss so expect the duo to start this evening with Phil Jones out. Chris Smalling is the only other option to the boss. Luke Shaw has proven his fitness this season so expect him to remain at left-back for both this game and the weekend.
Midfield: Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba
Ole stuck with his favourite midfield trio at Arsenal in the last round and I think he’ll go with them again for our trip to Chelsea too. Nemanja Matic will be returning to his former club whilst Ander Herrera has marked Eden Hazard out of games in the past. Take the Belgian out of the game and the Blues don’t have a great deal else to offer in attack. Paul Pogba was very quiet against PSG midweek before his late sending off so could do with bouncing back with a performance in this one.
Attack: Juan Mata, Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford
We’re a bit limited in attack with both Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard ruled out, whilst Alexis Sanchez is a doubt. Tahith Chong has travelled with the squad but I wouldn’t expect the teenager to start. Juan Mata can be expected to start down the right versus his former club whilst fellow former-Chelsea attacker Romelu Lukaku could come back into the starting XI. The Belgian has started our previous two FA Cup ties this season. Should Sanchez not be fit to start then Marcus Rashford could play down the left, though it didn’t work out for him in this role last time he played it under Ole. Therefore Rashford and Lukaku could even lineup as strikers alongside each other and Mata in the number 10 role.
Here’s how I see us lining up:
You must be logged in to post a comment Login